The New Kid
by Nympha Fluminis
Summary: Max, Fang, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy are all foster kids of Ms. M. They live with her and daughter, Ella and everything seems perfect. Well, until a new kid comes along. He's blind, doesn't talk and is overall weird, but Fang wants to protect him anyways
1. Chapter 1

**So, I promise, an update for Veni, Vidi, Vici will come, but I'm having some major writer's block, so I wrote this piece to see if I could cure it. I might continue it, I might leave it as is... depends mostly on the reaction to the story. :) It's not like anything I've ever written so please review!  
**

**Also, I've messed with the ages a bit. Angel is closer in age to the rest of them than she is in the books. Oh, and no wings!  
**

**Chapter 1:**

"Faannng!" Max complained when I pulled her ponytail again. "Stop it!"

"Make me!" I taunted back.

"Children, children, settle down, please," Ms. Martinez said. We all got quiet for her. It was rude not to listen when other people were talking, 'specially adults. My momma taught me that and apparently everyone else's did, too, because when Ms. Martinez asked for quiet, we usually were pretty good. Well sometimes. Right now was a "family meeting" and that meaned we had to be real quiet and good, else we won't get to go play for a long time.

"Thank you," Ms. M said. "We're getting a new member of the family today and I want you all to be very nice to him-"

"We're _always _nice, momma," Ella said. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Well, you need to be especially nice to Iggy," Ms. Martinez said.

"Oh! Ooh!" Nudge said, with her arm high in the air, "I bet Iggy is the new kid!"

"Well, no, duh, dummy" I told her because it was so obvious, but Ms. M gave me "the Look" and told me to behave.

"Yes, Nudge, Iggy is the new member of our family and he's been through a lot so he might seem strange."

"Strange how?" Max asked.

"Well, he's going to react differently to things like touch and he's much more sensitive to words," Ms. Martinez explained. "His real family was very mean, so we have to be very nice to make up for it."

"I can do that!" little Gazzy from his spot next to baby Angel, his real sister.

"Good, Gazzy. That's the spirit. Also he's blind and doesn't speak much. Hopefully we can help with the speech, but he'll always be blind."

"Ms. Martinez," Gazzy said, "what does 'blind' mean?"

"It means he can't see," Max said wisely and all the little ones 'ahh'd' at her knowledge. Not me though. I already knew that!

"Now, he'll be here very soon, so I want everyone to help clean up, okay?" We all groaned at that. Cleaning's no fun at all! Not like playing!

"Okay?" Ms. M repeated more firmly.

"Fine!" we all said.

I cleaned, but I wasn't happy about it! Then, I played dinosaurs until the doorbell ringed. I looked at Max with big eyes.

"He's here!"

I ran on tiny legs downstairs with Max behind me. Good thing I was wearing my new sneakers cause they helped me run super fast!

Ms. Martinez was already at the door and ran up next to her and looked out.

There was a boy about my age. He had reddish-blonde hair and these big, blue eyes that looked funny.

I tilted my head to the side. "Hey, why are your eyes all cloudy like that?" I asked him.

"Fang!" Ms. Martinez, scolded.

"It's cause he's blind, Fang! The clouds got inside his eyes cause they were so pretty and now they won't leave and that's why he can't see. There are clouds in the way."

"Ohh," I said in acknowledgment. "That makes sense." The boy's face got all red and he looked at his feet (well, kinda... he can't see so can't _really _look at his feet.)

"My name's Fang!" I said loudly in greeting, "Cause Fang's are super cool and it sounds better than stupid Nick.

"And this is Max!" I continued. "Which is stupid because she's a girl and Max is a boy's name! And that's Nudge, because she doesn't shut up! And next to Nudge is Gazzy because he farts a lot. And next to Gazzy is Angel... because, well, because."

Iggy just stared at his feet more, which is really rude if you ask me, so, even though I knew he his name I asked, "What's your name?"

He _still _wasn't saying anything. I looked up at Ms. M and opened my mouth to ask her why the new kid wouldn't talk, but she interrupted me.

"Fang, Iggy doesn't speak," she explained to me.

"Why not?" I asked. Why wouldn't anyone want to speak. Talking was, like, the coolest thing ever! Except for sometimes you'd get in trouble for it, which was never fun. I always talked too much according to Ms. M.

"Well, Fang," Ms. M said, "he had a very hard time at his old home and he just stopped talking."

"But, why doesn't he talk now?" I pressed. I still didn't really get why having a hard time meant you had to stop talking, but I guess it does.

"Fang, that's enough questions for now," Ms. M said in that voice that meant I needed to stop, "Why don't you show Iggy up to the room you two will be sharing?"

"Okay!" I yelled, forgetting about my questions. Iggy would love our room! There toys and dinosaurs and lots of other cool things that I just knew he would love! "Come on, Igs!"

I started up the stairs, but realized that Iggy wasn't following. I frowned. Didn't he want to see our new room?

"Aren't you coming?" I felt my lip poke out in a pout.

Iggy nodded slowly and took a really slow step with his arms out. Then another. Ms. M grabbed one of his arms gently though, before he walked into the kitchen table. I want to hit my head against the wall when I realize _Iggy can't see_! That's why he didn't follow!

Even with Ms. M leading him, Iggy stubbed his toe real bad on the bottom step.

"Oh, shoot, Iggy!" Ms. M said, "I'm sorry! I forgot to tell you about the stairs. Are you okay?"

Iggy nodded his head even though I could tell the stair really hurt. Stubbing your toes _always _hurt.

"Okay, let's take this slowly then," she said with a comforting smile that Iggy couldn't see. I got real sad for some reason watching Ms. M lead Iggy up the stairs. She had to tell when to step and how high and to turn when they got the twisted part of the stairs.

When they finally got upstairs Ms. M smiled real big at Iggy, then said, "We made it."

I smiled, too, and laughed a bit.

"Come on, Iggy!" I said happily. "Let's go to our room! No girls are allowed in there." I grabbed his arm in excitement and started to run, but he gasped real scared like and jumped backwards, right into Ms. M. He was shaking badly and jumped forwards when he hit Ms. M.

I frowned again. I couldn't figure out why my new brother was so afraid. I got a little jumpy when someone snuck up on my (only I'll never tell Max that!), but he looked really afraid. I remember Ms. M saying that he would react all weird to touch, but I didn't think it would be this weird!

"Hey, Iggy, it's okay," Ms. M comforted. "it's just Fang. He's just going to show you to your new room, okay?"

Iggy nodded and put his thumb in his mouth. I didn't suck my thumb anymore 'cause I was a big boy, but apparently Iggy still did. It was okay though. If it made him feel better.

I felt really protective over him all of the sudden watching my new brother stand at the top of the stairs sucking his thumb. He looked so little and scared and I just wanted to make everything better.

I promise, I'll never let anyone hurt you ever again, I promised him to myself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Ms. M?" I asked one day after Iggy had been living with us for a couple days.

"Yes, Fang?" she said.

"Why doesn't Iggy go to school?" I said quickly, embarrassed by my question for some reason.

"He does go to school, just not with the rest of you," she said in that overly sweet tone adults like to use.

"Why not?" I demanded, wanting to stomp my foot real bad. Adults are annoying. They only ever answer part of your questions and you have to continuously ask 'Why?' until they get annoyed with you and tell you to go play.

"Well, sweetie, it's because he's blind."

"So?" I said. "Blind people have to learn, too."

"He goes to a special school where they can teach him things like brail to accommodate him better," she said, this time using big words that I couldn't understand.

"What's 'Brail'?"

"Well, it's a way for people that can't see to read. You know when you go to bathroom in restaurants or school and on the signs there are little bumps?"

"Yeah! Those are on the rooms outside my classrooms, too!" I said excitedly. I always wondered what those were for...

"That's called brail, and it's a way for people that can't read the words to be able to feel the pattern of dots and see what it's saying."

"Ohhh," I said, making a big "O" with my mouth. That made sense.

"Now, if your done asking questions, help me make dinner," she said, handing me a wooden spoon. I groaned, even though I secretly didn't mind helping with dinner.

We were making spaghetti, but that's really hard to say so we've just always called it 'ghetti. Iggy walked into the kitchen while I was helping Ms. M pour a can of tomato sauce into a pan. He stood at the entrance to the kitchen with his head turned all funny on the side and his forehead crinkled up like he was thinkin' hard about something.

"Oh, hello Iggy," Ms. M said when she noticed him standing there after a few moments. "Here, come help us!"

But all of the sudden I got real annoyed with Iggy. I didn't want him to come help though! _I _was the only one allowed to help Ms. M cook! Max always messed up and after we had to call the Fire Fighters she wasn't allowed back in the kitchen and everyone else was too little. It was my special time with Ms. M and even if I did like the new kid, this was _my _time!

"But he can't even see! He'll mess it all up 'cause he's blind... he can't read or nothin' so how should he be able to something like cook?" I demanded.

"Fang!" Ms. M scolded loudly. Iggy sniffled and I saw his lip quivering, then he started crying and his face started to get a weird shade of red. "Apologize, now! And then I expect you to spend the rest of the night in your room."

"But it's true! He can't see and he can't read and he can't cook!" I was looking at Ms. M so I almost missed hearing Iggy's loud footsteps as he ran out of the room, but I turned and saw his moppy reddish hair bounce as he ran top speed (which was really fast!) out. I winced when I heard him tripping and stumbling while trying to run.

Ms. M gave me a very scary glare. "You need to fix that. Now."

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Truth was, I was starting to feel bad. Hadn't I sworn to be his protector? Now I'd hurt him with my words. That annoying thing inside my chest started to hurt real bad and gave me weird butterflies. That's what guilt feels like is what teacher told me. Apparently, it's 'cause of this annoying little thing called a 'conscious', like Jimminy Cricket. I never did like that guy.

I finally found Iggy curled up on the floor next to the backdoor. He had his knees pulled up to his chest and was crying into his arms.

"Iggy?" I said quietly, even though I knew he wouldn't say anything. He did raise his head up a little though and turn it to the side. I knew that meant he was listening.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean it," I said. I sat down next to him pulled my legs up to my chest, too. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings. Do you forgive me?"

He looked like he was thinking, then he nodded all slow like. I smiled big, but he couldn't see it, so I raised his hand up to my face so he could feel my smile. His eyes got real big and he looked so happy that I smiled even bigger for him. It was the first time I'd ever seen Iggy smile.

"Why are you sitting on the floor over here?" I asked him after we were quiet for awhile. Iggy opened his mouth a little bit, then closed it again.

"What?" I asked. "I can't understand you, Iggy?" It was only a little bit of a fib. I knew that Iggy hadn't said anything, but I hoped it would get him to talk to me.

"I-I," Iggy stuttered out softly. I brought Iggy's hand to my face again so he could feel my smile. "I didn't know where to go. I w-was gonna go to our room, but I can't do the stairs and I wanted to go outside, but I didn't know where the door was and I kept fallin' down and hurtin' myself."

His voice was scratchy, scratchier than when Max got that sickness that meant she couldn't talk. What was it called? 'Lare-jitus? Somethin' like that. He also spoke super quietly in a whisper tone.

"It's okay," I told him when he started crying again. "But you can talk! I knew you could!" His eyes got big again, but this time like he was scared.

"Don't tell no one though, okay, Fang? Please?" he begged in that scratchy tone that sounded like it hurt.

"Well," I started. I had to tell someone. It was to help Iggy.

"Please, you can't. It's our little secret. Please, Fang, please?" I saw Iggy's eyes watering like he was going to cry again, so I nodded. Then I realized that he couldn't see a nod.

"I- I guess I won't. But you've got to promise that it won't be forever."

Iggy smiled even bigger then. "Of course not."

"Cause Ms. M says there are such things as bad secrets," I told him.

"Yeah, but no one's getting' hurt."

"You're sure?" I asked him because I really wasn't sure.

"Of course I'm sure. Me not wanting to talk to everyone doesn't hurt anyone," he told me. Then, he looked thoughtful and asked in all seriousness, "It doesn't, does it?"

"It might hurt you," I told him.

"That doesn't count," he said, and I got confused.

"Why doesn't it count? Your someone. You shouldn't be hurt," I said.

"How do you know? How do you know I don't deserve it?"

"Cause you never hurt anyone and your really sweet," I told him because, duh, it was really obvious. "If you deserve to be hurt, than I deserve _waaayyyy_ worse."

"Don't say that!" he said really forcefully. "You're good. No one would ever want to hurt you, so that means your good."

"Well, I don't know. I get on teacher's nerves a lot. And sometimes Ms. M's, too. Well, most times," I said. That was something Iggy never did.

"But they'd never actually do anything. They're just being playful... except for when they have to punish you," he said. "I know I deserve it."

"How?" I asked.

"Cause my daddy told me so, and daddy's don't lie," he said like he was talking about the weather. Real matter-of-factly. My stomach did a twisty thing at that. I remember the councilor at school talking to us about things like that and they said not telling that was a very bad secret.

"Why'd he say that?" I asked after clearing my throat and swallowing.

"Prob'ly cause it's true," Iggy said just as casually, though he was still speaking in that almost whisper.

"Did your daddy ever hurt you?" I asked shyly. It might sound nosy to Iggy. Iggy licked his lips and looked troubled.

"I ain't s'possed to tell," he said, even quieter than before.

"Iggy," I said, "I think this counts as a bad secret."

"But they found out once and my daddy got in trouble cause of me, so you can't tell anyone, alright?" he said.

I nodded again, but I really didn't want to keep our conversation secret...


	3. Chapter 3

**So, I really should be updating "Veni Vidi Vici" but this had kinda taken over my mind for now, so I'll do as my ever annoying muse commands. I'm sorry flYegurl! I promise, I'll make my next VVV update super awesome! **

**Chapter 3: **

Iggy moves when he sleeps. A lot.

I know that I sometimes turn over and stuff when I'm trying to sleep and Ms. M won't let me crawl in bed with her anymore because I'm "all elbows and knees". Whatever that means. But Iggy constantly turns and tosses and says stuff like, "no and please" in a whisper voice that I have to strain to hear.

I asked him about it once, but he said he was just always like that. I think they're nightmares though and when I told him that he laughed at me, though it didn't sound like a funny laugh, and told me I was silly. He said he would know if he had nightmares, but I think he was lying to me.

He was doing it again tonight, real bad. He kept whispering and talking and he was getting louder and louder until I finally decided that I had to wake him up.

I got up and walked across the room over to his bed and whispered, "Iggy!" quite loudly. He didn't do anything.

"Iggy!" I whispered even louder, this time shaking his shoulder a bit. He continued to sleep and toss and turn. His face screwed up like he was in pain and I wanted to start crying because he looked so hurt. "Iggy!" I didn't whisper that time and shook his shoulder hard.

He woke up fast sat straight upright. He was quiet, but he was also crying.

"Iggy?" I asked. He cocked his head to the side, looking confused. "Iggy? It's me... it's Fang."

Iggy mouthed 'Fang?' I nodded up and down, then realized that he couldn't see me and that was why he was so confused.

"Yeah, it's Fang," I said. He put his hand on my chest, then moved it up to face and felt around for a second, before looking completely relieved.

Iggy threw his arms around me as tightly as he could and hugged me tight. I put my arms around him, too, and he just kept crying into my shoulder. I sat down on the bed with him and just let him keep crying into my shirt. Eventually, I got him to lay back down, but when I got up to go to my bed, he grabbed my arm.

"Do you want me to stay here?" I asked. He blushed but nodded anyways.

I laid down in bed with him and wrapped my arms around him. He rolled over and buried his face into my neck and wrapped his arms around me, too. Iggy didn't have anymore nightmares that night.

**Dr. Martinez's POV**

"Where's Iggy and Fang?" Max asked me at breakfast, shoveling cereal into her mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, sweetie," I told her. She rolled her eyes at me.

"Fine," she said, holding out the word and exaggerating her annoyance. "But where are they?"

I frowned. "They're still asleep. I should go wake them..."

"Ooh!" Max yelled, jumping from her seat. "Can I go wake them up?"

"Me too!" yelled Nudge. "I want to help get them up. Max always says I talk too much when I wake her up, but I think that talking is the best way to get someone up-"

"No," I interrupted, before it turned into a full scale Nudge rant, "_I _will go wake Fang and Iggy. You all just eat."

"Angel's not eating. She's _drinking_," Gazzy corrected. I sighed and made my way upstairs, hoping that the house would still be standing when I got back down.

I walked down the hallway and opened the door to Fang and Iggy's room and my gaze automatically shifted to Fang's bed... Fang's _empty _bed.

_Oh my god, where is he-_

My mind was about halfway to a full blown panic attack when I shifted my gaze over to Iggy's bed and saw about the cutest damn thing in the world.

They were sharing a twin sized bed, both on their sides and turned towards each other. They were hugging their sleep, with Iggy's face buried in Fang's neck and Fang's head resting on top of Iggy's head.

I quietly pushed the door to, and ran to my room to grab my camera. Maybe it was a bit weird, taking pictures of the two of them in their sleep, but they were too adorable to not document.

I made my way back downstairs after and sat back down at the kitchen table.

"Iggy and Fang still aren't here," Max ever-so-helpfully informed me.

"They seemed really tired," I told her, "I decided to let them sleep."

Truth was, I was just glad that Iggy was finally getting close to someone. I'd read his files and seen what his father had done to him. How anyone could do that to a child as sweet and innocent as Iggy still confuses me. When I first saw the documents, I literally saw red. I always thought that was just a turn of phrase. But, no, I was so pissed I saw red and was ready to kill the man that did that to a child.

Based on what his social worker had said about him and my experiences with him, I was afraid he would never get close to anyone, but Fang seems to be getting to him after just a few days. If sleeping in late with his brother is what it takes to help that poor soul, he can sleep as late as he needs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Fang**

I waked up happy and confused the next morning. Happy, because I was awake. Confused, because I had an Iggy wrapped up all 'round me and wasn't in my bed. Then, I remembered about his nightmares.

I started squirming in his grip to get him to wake up.

"Iggy," I said, "hey Iggy! It's morning!"

"Mrngg," Iggy said.

"Iggggy," I moaned. "Time to get up."

Iggy reached up with his hands balled into fists and rubbed the sleepies away from his eyes. His strawberry blonde hair fell into his eyes, but Iggy didn't seem to mind. That always bugged me because the hairs got all itchy when they touched your eyes. Maybe it was 'cause Iggy's blind and can't see that the hairs don't annoy him.

"Fang?" Iggy asked in his sandpaper voice.

"Yep!" I said, skipping over to my dresser.

"Just checkin'," he said quietly. "I-I wasn't sure. But, you sound like Fang, so I guess you have to be Fang. I thought you were my daddy when I first waked up, but my daddy talks all deep, like this," Iggy said the last two words in a read low gravely voice that made me laugh. "and he has an itchy face. Yours isn't."

He was rambling- I remembered that word because Ms. M says that's what Nudge does when she won't shut up- but it was nice. He'd only talked to me, like, two or three times and never said more than he had to.

"Do you wanna get dressed before or after breakfast?" I asked him when he was all done talking.

"Umm," he got all quiet again. "'fore?"

"Okay!" I said, pulling out clothes from our dresser. I grabbed a pair of jeans and my favorite soft black T-shirt for myself. I was about to get Iggy a pair of jeans, too, but then I 'membered that he said his daddy's face was rough and itchy and I hate Iggy's dad for hurting him, and jeans can be really rough which might remind him of his daddy, so I got out some sweatpants and a white shirt instead.

I threw them at him and he picked them up. I put on my clothes super fast. I never did understand how it could take Ms. M more than a couple minutes to put on a shirt and some pants. Or just a dress!

"Ready, Iggy?" I asked excitedly when I was ready, then turned to look at him. His pants were on inside out and his shirt was backwards. I laughed because he just looked so silly!

"Hey!" he said. "Don't laugh at me!"

"Your clothes are on wrong, silly!" I told him.

"Well, how was I s'possed to know?" he asked.

"I don't know..." I admitted, then helped him get them on right.

"All better!" I announced. We started to go downstairs, so I grabbed Iggy's hand to lead him, but that was starting to get real awkward. But then, I had a genius idea! I grabbed Iggy's hand, and took one finger and guided it through a loop-hole on my jeans! It worked perfectly! And when he got to the stairs, I just slowed down, and he didn't need any help at all because he had all the stairs memorized!

There were some really good smells coming from the kitchen, and I realized that everyone was already up.

"Hey!" I yelled. "You started without me!"

"That's what you get for sleepin' in," Max said with an annoying look. I stuck my tongue out at her.

Iggy and I sat down at our table and started eating. Iggy doesn't eat much, which is just another weird thing about him. Eating is the best thing in the world... next to talking, of course.

"I want a puppy," Nudge announced out of the blue. "They're great. They're adorable and friendly and sweet and they've got those cute little tongues, not like cats. Cats have scratchy tongues. No one wants to get kissed by sandpaper! Gross! Speaking of gross, spinach is gross. Really really gross. I don't think we should have to eat it, Ms. M. Nothing that tastes that bad can really be that good for us. Why does everything that tastes good have to be bad for us? I don't actually think chocolate is bad for us. I think that's a lie the adults tell us to make us not eat their wonderful amazinglichous chocolate. Amazinglichous is my new word because-"

Nudge got quiet when Max put a hand over her mouth. Then, she licked Max's hand. I knowed that because Max just looked at her yelled:

"I am immune to hand-licking because I invented it!"

"Nuh-uh, Max!" I said. "I did!"

"Ya-huh, Fang!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Ya-huh!

"Nuh-uh!"

"Ya-h-!"

"Enough!" Ms. M said. "Geez, I'd swear you were trying to kill me, making all that racket at this hour!"

Then Gazzy farted and Iggy giggled. And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

**I know it's insanely short... I'm sorry. :(**


	5. Chapter 5

The first time Iggy talked out loud to everyone was almost a whole month after he'd started talkin' to me which made me secretly proud. Iggy liked me better than anyone else!

We were all just sitting around eatin' our dinners, when Iggy got all fidgety. I was sitting next to him, so I noticed. He was opening his mouth a bunch, then closing it again, like a fish. He was also squirming in his seat. He made this little sound in the back of his throat, then made I again. Finally he whispered, "Can I have some 'tatoes?" in his super quiet voice so that it was impossible to understand him unless you were paying _reeaaallllly _close attention. Which I was!

The whole table got real quiet and Iggy started squirming again.

"Sorry, Iggy?" Ms. M said first, "I couldn't hear you." Everyone else was so surprised that he'd said something at all that they couldn't speak. I think I was the only one that actually heard the words he said.

Iggy's face turned bright red and he said, "N'vermind."

"He asked for some Po-tate-oes," I announced loudly.

"Oh! Of course, sweetie!" Ms. M said, leaning over and spooning lots of mashed potatoes on his plate. They didn't have any gravy, which I thought was really yucky, but Iggy ate it that way 'cause he had trouble eating because he couldn't see the food. He used his hands mostly, but he also always has a spoon he can use. Forks are too dangerous for him.

Iggy also gets real messy when he eats. With meat and finger foods he can be okay, but with potatoes and stuff it's hard. He never uses his spoon, just reaches in with his hands and scoops it up and into his mouth, but a lot of it misses. I had caught him a few days earlier with Ms. M, trying to eat with a spoon. Ms. M put his hand around the handle and helped guide it to his mouth, but when he tried it on his own, he missed and hit his cheek. That happened a lot more until Iggy was crying and Ms. M just picked him up and decided they were done.

Iggy poked at his food some more and ate some of his potatoes, but not much. He looked really embarrassed throughout the rest of dinner. His face was red and his body was all curled up, like he was tryin' to make himself smaller. I wonder why he does that... I always like to look big. Like a dinosaur!

When dinner was over, we all had to help clean up. Everyone kept looking at Iggy, like they were expecting him to say something, but he never did. The more they stared the more embarrassed he seemed to get. He kept shuffling on his feet back and forth and squirming. He was biting his lower lip and staring at the floor and his face looked like a tomato. I frowned when I looked at him and decided he was just tired of everyone staring at him.

I grabbed Iggy's plate along with mine and hurriedly threw them in sink.

"Come on, Igs!" I said loudly, "Let's go play dinosaurs! You can be T-Rex!" I grabbed his wrist and ran him out of the kitchen and into our bedroom. He didn't get all scared like he did the first time I'd grabbed him like that anymore, mostly because he was used to it.

When we got to our room, I dumped all my dinosaurs on the floor and handed Iggy the T-Rex. I picked out the long necked one for myself.

"What does it look like?" Iggy asked me quietly, after playing with his dinosaur for awhile. "I can kinda feel the shape of it, but I'm not really good at telling what things look like from that, yet."

"Well, it's real big and stands up on two legs, like a person. And it's got these super awesome pointy teeth to eat with! T-Rex's are the _strongest _dinosaurs, but they've got these really funny arms, like this!" I moved my arms so the upper part of them was pressed against my sides and the part from the elbow up could move. I waved them around. Then realized that Iggy couldn't see my demonstration. "Um... well, they're just real tiny and can't even touch each other."

"Oh," Iggy said.

"And the one you're playing with is green. Green is like grass," I try to explain, then realize he doesn't know what grass looks like. "Um, it's a color, like blue or pink but it's not blue because it's green." I stopped talking when I realized I had no idea how to describe green. "Well, it's kinda like..."

Iggy giggled at me. "I know what green is."

"You do?"

"I wasn't always blind," he told me. "I used to could see. Now I can't. I don't remember what most stuffs look like, but I 'member my colors."

"How did you become blind?" I asked, confused.

"Well, my daddy did it to me."

"He made you blind?" I felt my eyes get big. Was it easy for someone to make you blind? It scared me a bit.

"Yep."

"How?" I asked. I didn't want anyone to make me blind.

"I don't really want to talk about it..." Iggy whispered, looking at the floor.

"Okay," I told him. We sat quietly for awhile, then went back to playing dinosaurs, but it wasn't quite as much fun anymore.

**Hey guys! I don't really have any specific place for this story to be going, so if anyone wants to see something, tell me. I'll probably write it. :) **


	6. Chapter 6

**I've been really bad about replying to reviews for this story :/ I'm going to ****_try _****and get better about that. Also, please leave a review about how you're feeling about the story. Please! With Iggy's on top? (… yeaahhhhhh, that didn't sound quite so creepy in my head O.O)**

We went to sleep later that night, but I woke up when I heard Iggy. At first I thought he was havin' another nightmare. He gets them a ton and I usually end up sleepin' with him, but then I woke up more and realized that he wasn't scared, he was coughing. Real bad coughing, too!

I ran over to his bed and shaked him awake.

"Iggy!" I said. "Iggy! Are you okay?" I always got scared when people were sick. Sick is a scary thing. My daddy died of being sick. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?" He just kept coughing. "Just stay here!"

I ran off down the hallway to Ms. M's room.

"Ms. M! Ms. M!" I yelled. "Iggy is coughing really really badly! I think he's sick! Come on, Ms. M!" I ran over to her bed and grabbed her hand and pulled her through the hallway.

Iggy wasn't coughing as badly when we got there, but he still sounded really bad.

"Is he okay? Is he dying? Can he breathe?" I asked. When I coughed I had trouble breathing. What if Iggy couldn't breathe? Then that could mean he wouldn't have any air and he could die! I don't want Iggy to die!

"Fang, Iggy will be fine. Can you get a water from downstairs and grab my phone, please?"

I did so and quickly as I could. Ms. M gave Iggy some of the water when his coughing had slowed down and that helped a lot. He wasn't coughing anymore and just looked tired. Ms. M was on the phone with the doctor.

"Well, he's stopped now, but he was coughing quite a bit," she was saying. "Dry cough, yep... Nope, just the coughing... Dark bags? Um, Iggy raise your head. Yep, dark bags... He doesn't _sound_ like he's wheezing... okay." Ms. M put her head down to Iggy's chest and told him to breathe out, "there's a bit I guess. Not too noticeable... Mmhmm, okay... Tomorrow? I can do that. What time? ...okay, I'll bring him in tomorrow. Wait! Do you think it's something contagious... No? So I should let Fang stay in with him for the night... okay. Thank you, doctor! Mmhmm... buh-bye. "

"What's happening? Is he okay? Is he gonna die?" I asked the second she hanged up the phone. I was crying, too, I realized. I wiped away the stupid tears. Big boys don't cry.

"It's okay, Fang. Dr. Hillsberry says that he should be fine for tonight and we're going to take him to the doctor's office tomorrow to get him checked over, okay?" I nodded. That didn't sound _too _bad. Doctor's saved people from sicknesses, so that had to be pretty good. "That okay with you, Iggy?" Iggy nodded his head, but looked really tired. "Okay, goodnight boys."

"Goodnight, Ms. M!"

"...night," Iggy whispered. Then Ms. M gave me a kiss on the forehead and left.

"Fang?" Iggy said from his bed.

"Yeah, Iggy?"

"Could you maybe sleep in my bed with me tonight?"

"Sure Iggy!" I actually wanted to sleep with him tonight. I was afraid of being alone tonight. His coughing and being sick really really scared me! I crawled up on bed and we cuddled up against each other. We were quiet for awhile, then Iggy asked,

"Fang?"

"Yeah?"

"What did Ms. M do before she left?"

"What?"

"There was a sound like this," he said, then smacked his lips together.

"Oh, you mean her good-night kiss?"

"I guess," he said.

"You've never had a good-night kiss?"

"No..." Iggy said and gasped because that was one of the saddest things I'd ever heard.

"Well, a good-night kiss is when someone gives you a kiss to say good-night."

"Oh." He was quiet again for awhile. "Do you think maybe you could show me what a good-night kiss is like?"

"Okay," I said. I leaned forwards and pucked out my lips to give him a little kiss on the cheek, but I guess he couldn't see me and turned his head. Instead, I kissed him on the lips. It didn't seem so wrong, though, so I did the little smacking thing and pulled back slowly. It wasn't like in all of those gross movies where they kiss on the lips forever, but it was a little longer than most goodnight kisses.

"Fang?"

"Yeah, Iggy?"

"I think I like kissing."

"Me too."

And then we fell asleep.

We woke up in the morning, after Ms. M and Gazzy and Angel and Nudge, but before Max, so Iggy and I weren't the last ones awake. Ms. M made pancakes, Iggy's favorite, and eggs, my favorite. They were really good. After breakfast, though, Ms. M told Iggy he should get dressed because he had to go to the doctor's today.

"Can I please come, Ms. M?" I asked, giving my very best puppy dog eyes.

"Don't you want to stay here with Felicia and everybody else?" she asked. Felicia was our stupid baby-sitter.

"No! I want to go with you and Iggy!"

"You're going to be so bored, though, Fangy."

"But, I want to go. I want to be there with Iggy so he doesn't get scared." That was only kinda true. I was also scared. I needed to make sure Iggy would be okay. Ms. M seemed to somehow get this and told me to hurry and get dressed, too.

I did so and as soon as Felicia and her stupid looking fish face arrived, we were out the door.

The doctor's office wasn't far. We got there really soon, but Iggy looked scared of the place. There were cool paintings all over the walls to make it less scary, but Iggy couldn't see any of them.

"Come on, Iggy!" I said. "Doc Berry has some fun Lego blocks to play with!" I took his hand and led him over to the block place and we built a giant castle until it was Iggy's turn to get looked over.

One of the nice nurse ladies that got to wear these comfy clothes with spacemen on them called Iggy's name and we followed her into one of the rooms. He held my hand instead of my belt-loop as we walked back there.

It was one of the rooms that had space-ships all over the walls. There was one big laying down chair that I always sat up on, two padded normal chairs, and a circle chair with no back that only the doctor got to sit on. I decided I was gonna be a doctor so I could wear the cool comfy clothes with space-ships and sit in the circley roll-y chair someday.

Ms. M helped lift Iggy up on the bed and as soon as he was up there his eyes got real wide and he looked scared. His breathing got fast and the nurse started trying really hard to calm him down. I hopped up with him and held his hand so he would be less scared. It worked.

"Can I ask you to do some things for me, Iggy?" she asked as she put her heart-listener thing in her ears. Iggy looked scared. I squeezed his hand and he nodded his head.

"All right!" the nurse said with a smile. "My name is Elizabeth, and I'm going to listen to your heart for a bit, okay?" Iggy nodded. "This is called a stethoscope." She put the end of the heart-listener in his hands. "I'm just going to put this on your chest and back and listen, okay? It's gonna a bit cold..."

She moved the thing around his chest and back for a bit and told him to breath in and out. She took some notes, the pulled out the annoying thing that went on your arm and got tight. She put it on the arm with the hand that I wasn't holding and warned him about the tightness. He started crying as it got tighter, but then it loosened and Iggy seemed okay again.

Elizabeth did the rest of the things they always do, then left so the doctor could come and get us. He came in pretty quickly.

"Hi, Iggy," he greeted. "My name is Dr. Hillsberry, but your brother always calls me Doc Berry. Most people do." Iggy just nodded. He still looked really scared. "I'm gonna ask you to do some things for me, alrighty?" Iggy nodded again.

Doc Berry pulled out a funny looking little thing that reminded me a little bit of a kazoo. "This is called a peak flow meter." He put the funny thing in Iggy's hand. "All you have to do is sit up very straight, puff your lungs up full of air, and blow into it as hard as you can!" Iggy looked nervous, but he did it anyways. "Good job!" the doctor told him, writing something down on his clipboard. "Now do it one more time." Iggy did. The doctor wrote something again.

The doctor had Iggy do a bunch more weird stuff, then said, "Well, I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is, but I'd like to get an X-Ray of the lungs just to be sure."

We followed him to the weird dark room with a big machine in the middle and dark curtain thing to the side. The doctor made us put on these heavy apron things and stand behind the dark curtain.

"Okay, Iggy," he said, holding his hand. "this part might be a bit scary. I just need you to lay down here and stay absolutely still until I tell you to move." Iggy looked really scared again, but nodded anyways. The doctor lowered the machine over his chest and ran into a little side room and did some stuff. The machine made a loud noise and flashed. He did that a few more times and by the time it was done, Iggy was shaking and crying.

"Alright guys, we're all done for now. I'm just going to look over the X-Rays and that shouldn't take long. Elizabeth will take you back to your room."

I ran over to Iggy and hugged him tight.

"I want to go home," he told me.

"Just a little longer. They're all done with the bad stuff."

"Okay," he said.

We sat in the room for a long time again until the doctor came back in.

"From the results I got, I believe Iggy has asthma. That's what I'd guessed before, but the X-Rays back it up." I didn't know what asthma meant, but it sounded scary. The grown-ups talked about it for a long time and gave Iggy a lot of weird things to breathe into and something to put air and other stuff into his lungs. Finally, though, we were allowed to go home. Iggy got a lollypop, but seemed to tired to care.

"You were really brave, Iggy," Doc Berry told him. "I know that was really scary, but you did good."

That made Iggy smile even more than the lollypop and Iggy fell asleep the second we got in the car. It was a long day.

**So, the scene with the goodnight kiss goes out to flYegurl ;) it was fun to write. **

**As for the rest, I don't have asthma, but I do have internet and I have been to many pediatric offices and have had my fair share of X-Rays, so I hope it's fairly accurate. **


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm so sorry for the long break, but I've had trouble writing. Then, I realized it's Halloween! Special Halloween episode of "The New Kid." YAY! :D**

**Fang's POV**

I crouched behind the couch, stealthily. It was Halloween and, while I technically being Batman, right now I was being a tiger. I curled my hands into claws and jumped on the back of the couch.

"RAWWWRRR!"

"Gah! Fang!" Max yelled. "Don't do that!"

"Make me," I replied, putting my hands on my hips and sticking out my tongue. It was a new come-back I'd learned from my friend Tony at school.

"Oh, I'll make you," Max said threateningly. She jumped on my and starting hitting me, so naturally I had to start fighting back.

"Maximum!" We bother heard. "Fang! What do you think you're doing?" It was Ms. M.

"Umm..." I said. "She hit me first!"

"Nuh-uh! He scared me!"

"I did not!"

"Did, too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did no-"

"I don't care _who _started it," Ms. M interrupted. "_I'm _ending it. I might not have brought you into the world but I can sure take you out. Now, separate corners. Fifteen minute time-out.

"Fine," I pouted, stomping over the corner. It wasn't fair. It was Halloween! The best day of the year. We got to dress up in silly costumes and get free candy! We're _not _supposed to get in trouble on Halloween!

As soon as the fifteen minutes were up, I bolted out of my chair. It was already 6 o'clock! It would get dark soon, and the earlier we left, the more candy we could get! I rushed upstairs into Iggy and my room.

"Iggy!" I yelled. "Time to put on our costumes!" He smiled at me and nodded. He still wasn't big on talking, but he was getting better. He actually didn't know what Halloween was when I first told him about it! I had to explain the most perfect of holidays.

I pulled out my Batman costume, but Batman really is the coolest superhero. Way cooler than boring old Superman. What kind of a name is that anyways? Iggy was going as a Jedi. He likes Star Wars, even though he can't see and really doesn't like any movies, he says the sounds the lightsabers make are cool and Obi Wan Kenobi is his favorite because "he's not whiny like Luke and his name is fun to say."

I helped Iggy into his costume quickly and handed him is blue lightsaber. His hair was falling in his eyes, so I brushed it away for him, then ran downstairs, only to see that apparently no one else was in as much of a rush as Iggy and I.

"Well?" I demanded, standing at the bottom of the stairs with my hands on my hips.

"Well what?" Ms. M asked.

"_Well _are you going to put your costumes on? Duh."

They did, but man were they slow! Max was being Wonder Woman, Nudge was a popstar, Gazzy was a tiger, and Angel was a, well, angel. And Ms. M made me fix my costume because apparently is 'on weird.' Then we had to take a bunch of pictures! In the end, we didn't head out for another thirty minutes.

The sun was still out when we left, but that was okay. It would get dark soon. Everything is cooler in the dark!

I held Iggy's hand as we walked up to the first door.

"Okay, Iggy," I said, "we just go up there and ring the doorbell. When it's opened you say Trick-or-Treat as cutely as you can and hold out your bag."

"Why?" he asked.

"Why what?"

"Why do we do that. What happens?"

"Well, they put candy in the bags, silly!" I told him.

"So, we say 'Trick-or-Treat and people give us free candy?"

"Yeah, basically."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know. That's just how it's done."

"Oh, okay," Iggy said.

We got to the front door before the others and I rang the doorbell. An old lady with curly white hair came out.

"Oh, look how cute you two are!" she said.

"I'm not cute!" I said, offended. Batman is _not _cute. "I'm scary!"

"Oh, well, whatever you say dearest."

Iggy looked a bit confused at the whole ordeal and said, "Trick-or-Treat," real quietly. He held out his pumpkin container... in the wrong direction.

"Oh," I heard the lady breathe quietly, and realized that she just noticed Iggy's blindness. "Here you go sweeties."

She dropped a few pieces into my bag, and about a mountain of them in Iggy's. Oh yeah, this was going to be a good Halloween if I could convince Iggy to play up Poor-Blind-Kid angle.

As it turns, Iggy really likes candy. Like, really _really _likes candy. Getting him to act helpless was no problem... actually he ended up coming up with the idea himself before I could start hinting at it. He is the master of Halloween. By the end of the night, he had more candy than any of us combined.

"Fang," he whispered, when we finally managed to come back down from our sugar rush. We were sleeping in the same bed, with him clutching on to me with both arms and legs.

"Yeah?"

"I think I like Halloween."

**So, I know it's really short and really late, but, hey, better late than never. Please, leave a review :) If you want to. It is my birthday tomorrow and I'd love some reviews... *hint, hint, nudge, nudge***


	8. Chapter 8

"What cha doin'?" I asked Iggy as I burst into my room after school one day.

"Reading," Iggy said. I tilted my head to the side.

"Sure doesn't look like reading, Igs," I told him. He was staring at the wall in front of him and running a finger over a book.

"I am."

"How?"

"With my fingers."

I remembered something Ms. M had told me something about how if your blind, you have to feel things to read them, but I wasn't paying real close attention and had forgot most of it.

"So, you just feel the pages and know what they say?" I asked.

"Come here," Iggy told me. I did. He grabbed my hand and made me stick out my pointer finger. Then, he found the edge of the page and drew my hand across one of the series of bumps.

"Woah," I said. "What did that say?" He reached down and passed his fingers over the same place mine had been.

"Cat," he answered.

"So, what's your book called?" I asked.

"Cat in the Hat," he answered.

"Cat in the Hat?" I wrinkled my nose up. "Isn't that for little kids? That can't really read." I regretted my words as soon as his eyes started to water and I realized this is one of the times that Ms. M would have told me I should think before I speak.

"I _can't _really read!" Iggy yelled, louder than I'd ever heard him speak before. "Just cause you can see and have been readin' since you were little doesn't mean I can!" He got up and ran out of the room.

"Iggy!" I said, trying to follow him so I could apologize. "I didn't mean it... I just forgot and started talking without thinkin' and all!" But Iggy was fast and managed to get away from me. Great. I just sat down on the floor and pressed my hands against my eyes and tried not to cry. I felt so stupid! Why did I never think before opening my mouth and saying something stupid?

**Iggy's POV **

I ran away from Fang until I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. Of course I could hear him apologizing to me, but I really really needed to be alone. I had memorized the house by now, and had a little hidey-hole I liked to go in when I was sad or overwhelmed. There was a little cupboard underneath the stairs with a lot of boxes and I pushed the boxes around so I could sit in the corner and hide.

I curled my knees up to my chest and hugged them tight with my arms and cried. My daddy never liked it when I cried... he said only babies cry. I guess it's true. I am a baby. A stupid, dumb baby who can't even read right.

The thing was, I wasn't really all that mad at Fang, even though I'd yelled at him. I felt real bad for making him think I was, but I wasn't. How could I be? He was right. I'm dumb. I can't even read a stupid book made for little babies.

I sat there for a long time and cried until I had no tears left and I my head felt like it was gonna explode. It was tired and I wanted to lay down and sleep forever, but I felt to bad for that. If I had any tears left, I'm sure I would've cried more. It felt like I'd been there for hours, but, the thing about not being able to see it that you lost track of time really easily.

"Iggy?" I heard, Ms. M yell. She was looking for me. I wanted to sit in my little corner for just a little longer, but she sounded real worried, so I made myself get up and leave my spot.

"Iggy!" she yelled again. I followed the sound of her voice into the living room. I could hear her moving quickly around and picking stuff up and searching really hard. Then I heard another sound. Like a sniffle, only it wasn't coming from Ms. M. Fang, maybe? I thought, but then decided it couldn't be Fang. What did he have to cry about?

"Ms. M?"I whipsered quietly, to let her know where I was.

"Oh, Iggy!" she yelled, and the only warning I had before she picked me up and held me tightly was the sound of her shoes on the carpet. "Where were you?"

"Under the stairs," I said, wrapping my arms and legs around her, and burying my face into her neck.

"I was worried! I couldn't find you!"

"'M sorry," I whispered. She shouldn't have to be worried and all scared about me. I felt about ten times worse now for making Ms. M sad and it turned out I wasn't quite as out of tears as I'd thought I was.

"Hey, it's okay, love," she said, stroking her hand through my hair. "Don't cry. We were just worried about you. We all love you so much."

"Love you, too," I murmured, even though I didn't really understand the concept of 'love.' No one ever said that to me before, but I heard it all the time now and I learned that you're supposed to say 'Love you, too" when they do.

"And Fang has something to say to you."

"I'm real sorry, Iggy!" Fang yelled from near Ms. M's leg. I jumped, and realized that he was the one crying when I came in the room earlier.

"What for?" I asked. "You didn't really do anything..."

"Yeah I did!" he insisted. "I said something mean to you!"

"Nuh-uh," I argued. "It's not mean if it's true." That's what my daddy always told me, anyways.

"Well, it's not true!" Fang said stomping his foot. "And it hurt your feelings, so it _was _mean."

"But-" I started to argue, before he cut me off.

"But nothing! If it hurt you're feelings it was wrong!"

That seemed too simple to me, though. Surely there was more to being mean than that. My daddy always treated it like there were rules. It wasn't mean if it was true. It wasn't mean if the person deserved it. It wasn't mean if the person is worse than you. And I was worse than everyone, he said. I killed my mommy, so that made me the very very very worst.

I didn't really have anything else to say, so I motioned for Ms. M to put down, and she did. Then, I gave Fang a hug to tell him it was okay and that he didn't need to feel bad.

"You two seem like you've had a long afternoon," Ms. M said. "Why don't you go put on some comfy clothes and lay down until dinner's ready. We both nodded, or at least I did and imagined that Fang did too based on the fact that he grabbed my hand and led me upstairs, even though I didn't really need leading anymore.

We curled up after Fang helped me get dressed and he himself got dressed, but I don't think either of us fell asleep. He just held me in his bed, until Ms. M called us down for dinner.

Later that night, before we fell asleep, Fang asked, "Hey, Iggy, you know how that one time you mentioned that you weren't always blind?"

"Yeah," I said, not really wanting to talk about this. It brought back bad memories.

"How did you become blind? You don't have to tell me it you don't want to or anything but-"

"It's okay," I said. "I'll tell you." I was quiet for awhile, trying to think of how to start. "Do you remember your daddy, Fang?"

"My dad?" Fang said, his voice getting higher part way through the word. "A little, yeah."

"What happened to him?"

"He died. He was sick."

"Oh. What was he like before he died?"

"He was... well, like more dad's I guess," Fang said. "He played catch and read me stories and tucked me into bed and would hug me if I was scared. You know, just a normal dad."

"My daddy wasn't like that," I said quietly, suddenly wanting a dad like Fang's. "I did something real bad when I was little. I don't remember it, really, but it was bad."

"What was it?" Fang asked. I swallowed hard, not wanting to tell Fang.

"I killed my mommy," I said. "It was an accident, though, I swear! I wasn't really even born yet!"

"Then how was it your fault?" he asks, sounding genuinely confused.

"It... it just was," I said. "Anyways, my dad wasn't like yours. He had to punish me for killing my mom and would drink a lot of this gross stuff. It made him stumble and fall and talk weird. Sometimes, he would hit me and me stuff for doing nothin' at all, but usually there was a good reason. Then, one day, he drank a lot of the stuff after I fell asleep. He got real angry and woke me up and started yellin' and stuff. His breath smelled terrible. He picked me up and hit me, which wasn't too unusual, but this time, I fell down and hit the back of my head hard against a wall and then everything was black.

"When I woke up, I was in the hospital and everything was dark. The doctor's kept asking me questions about how I hit my head and I kept tellin' them that I just fell down, but they didn't believe me, so I finally told them what had happened. They made me talk to a bunch more people, then had me move in with a few other families, and finally put me here. The doctor's said that when I hit my head, I damaged a part of my brain in the back that controls sight. I thinks its weird, though, that the seeing part of your brain is all the way in the back."

"I'm sorry Iggy," Fang said. He sounded like he was crying. I frowned and touched his face, carefully wiping at his tears.

"Why?" I asked. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."

"I'm just sorry your daddy was so mean."

"He wasn't mean... he was just, different. And it's not like I didn't deserve everything he did to me," I told him, because it was true.

"You didn't!" he yelled. I opened my mouth to protest, but he interrupted me. "You didn't, know matter what you think, and someday I'll prove it to you."

"Okay," I whispered, then buried my face in his shirt and fell asleep.

**So, the most common request I've had is, "How did Iggy go blind?" and I was going to hold out on you guys for awhile longer, but I decided this chapter was so angsty and melodramatic, I might as well go ahead and give you Iggy's story :)**

**Replies to Reviews**

**AngelicDevil101: Aw, thanks! :D Lol! I can see that... I can't stand airports myself. OMG BULLET POINTS! :D :D :D How do you do that? And, I'm always open to ideas! Also, I don't mind long reviews one bit. Hell, the longer that better I always say ("that's what she said".) **


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